1. Field of the Invention
This application relates generally to optical devices utilizing fiber Bragg gratings and slow light, and more particularly, to optical sensors utilizing fiber Bragg gratings and slow light.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) are used extensively in research and in industry for a large number of photonics applications, in particular in communication systems, in fiber lasers, and in fiber sensors. They are used as filters, high or partial reflectors, dispersion compensators, frequency standards, frequency stabilizers, spectrum analyzers, etc. In the field of fiber sensors, which is the main area germane to certain embodiments described herein, FBGs are used to sense changes to a number of perturbations applied individually or simultaneously to the FBG, mostly strain and temperature. For example, when a temperature change is applied to an FBG, three of the FBG parameters change, namely its length (through thermal expansion) and therefore the period of the grating, the effective index of the mode propagating in the core (through the thermo-optic effect), and the dimension of the fiber core (again through thermal expansion). Of these three effects, the one with the largest contribution to the performance of the FBG is typically the thermo-optic effect. Combined, these three changes result in a change in the Bragg wavelength, which can be measured to recover the temperature change applied to the grating. A similar principle is commonly used to measure a longitudinal strain applied to an FBG: when the fiber is strained, the three parameters mentioned above also change, which causes a shift in the Bragg wavelength. FBGs are undoubtedly the most widely used optical sensing component in the field of fiber sensors, largely because of their compactness, their ease of manufacturing, and their relative stability, considering that they are, after all, a very sensitive multi-wave interferometer.